The Osgood Files

Most of the pieces in this amusing volume are selected from Osgood's syndicated columns rather than from his better-known discourses on various TV programs. Here he opens on a note of entertaining self-deprecation, detailing his stint filling in for critic Rex Reed on the lecture platform, then proceeds to ponder problems of contemporary language and social matters, such as the odd eagerness of strangers to address us by our first names. There are also charming articles on Osgood's life with his five children, the questionable joys of owning an old house and the obstacles to getting organized. Osgood stresses the difficulty of writing anything that will remain true three hours hence, adding, ``The way to extend the embarrassment potential almost indefinitely is to collect the pieces and put them in a book.'' Not true of this commentator. (Mar . )